sogood
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- May 11, 2016
- Messages
- 361
I will hopefully be splashing my current boat for the first time, in the not too distant future. I have already launched a smaller 16' cabin cruiser from a different, smaller slip than the one I will be using for the new boat. My current daily driver/tow vehicle is a 4.0 litre Jaguar XJ6 automatic, rear wheel drive. I towed the boat home when I bought it, with no issues, using the Jaguar, over a distance of 350kms/ 220 miles. I appreciate that towing and launching are different situations and so that leads me to my question.
The boat in question is a 25' Wellcraft 250 Sportsman with a Mercruiser 5.7 inboard. After doing the maths regarding towing capacities/weights of my car and the weight of the boat, I have about 350 pounds to spare. And if it helps, I'm happy behind a steering wheel, as I drive tour coaches for a living, having driven every sort of coach, including articulated models, so my reversing abilities with a trailer isn't an issue.
The slip I intend using is about a 20 minute drive from home, in a very sheltered environment, so I wont have too much in the way of wind or waves to contend with.
Nor will I have an audience to deal with! I have read numerous posts on the do's and don'ts, the value of a checklist, being familiar with the environment and condition of the slip etc. so all that is pretty well sorted.
My concern is more to do with the science/physics/ ability to launch my boat with my car. For what it's worth, I have made up a "handbrake" arrangement on my trailer brakes, which allows the brakes to applied manually if needed. The theory being, that when launching, someone can walk alongside or stand on the trailer tongue, which has a ton of space, and can apply the brakes if needed, to help prevent the trailer pulling too much on the car, or even stop it running away entirely. For added safety, this handbrake could be operated remotely, using a line attached to the handbrake handle.
I've included some pics of the launch ramp, which is ridged concrete and is very wide, not too steep and gets plenty of water so as to avoid any slimy surface. It would be very easy to keep the car wheels on dry concrete at all times.
I have taken some measurements and on a 3/4 plus tide, I'm confident that the boat would float free of the bunks with the car still clear of any water. My plan would then be, to tie the boat up alongside the slip ( it has fixing points) or on the floating walkway, while I park up. FWIW, I appreciate that retrieving the boat would be another issue, with more to consider, but that's for another post.
So, thoughts on this are welcome. Thanks in advance.
Just discovered I can't upload pics as I keep getting a message saying "Invalid file data". It's a jpeg file, so what am I doing wrong?
The boat in question is a 25' Wellcraft 250 Sportsman with a Mercruiser 5.7 inboard. After doing the maths regarding towing capacities/weights of my car and the weight of the boat, I have about 350 pounds to spare. And if it helps, I'm happy behind a steering wheel, as I drive tour coaches for a living, having driven every sort of coach, including articulated models, so my reversing abilities with a trailer isn't an issue.
The slip I intend using is about a 20 minute drive from home, in a very sheltered environment, so I wont have too much in the way of wind or waves to contend with.
Nor will I have an audience to deal with! I have read numerous posts on the do's and don'ts, the value of a checklist, being familiar with the environment and condition of the slip etc. so all that is pretty well sorted.
My concern is more to do with the science/physics/ ability to launch my boat with my car. For what it's worth, I have made up a "handbrake" arrangement on my trailer brakes, which allows the brakes to applied manually if needed. The theory being, that when launching, someone can walk alongside or stand on the trailer tongue, which has a ton of space, and can apply the brakes if needed, to help prevent the trailer pulling too much on the car, or even stop it running away entirely. For added safety, this handbrake could be operated remotely, using a line attached to the handbrake handle.
I've included some pics of the launch ramp, which is ridged concrete and is very wide, not too steep and gets plenty of water so as to avoid any slimy surface. It would be very easy to keep the car wheels on dry concrete at all times.
I have taken some measurements and on a 3/4 plus tide, I'm confident that the boat would float free of the bunks with the car still clear of any water. My plan would then be, to tie the boat up alongside the slip ( it has fixing points) or on the floating walkway, while I park up. FWIW, I appreciate that retrieving the boat would be another issue, with more to consider, but that's for another post.
So, thoughts on this are welcome. Thanks in advance.
Just discovered I can't upload pics as I keep getting a message saying "Invalid file data". It's a jpeg file, so what am I doing wrong?